I agree - the proposal going on in tc is ridiculous.
I agree - the proposal going on in tc is ridiculous.
That's why I'm going to the meeting wed with the DNR biologists , hopefully with a bunch of other guys from our wed and tues and sat clubs . I am not going to let him have the ear of those guys all to himself again
Bad spellers of the world untie!
Went to coffee and donuts with the DNR tonight.
Learned that muskie fishermen are 2 groups , line and spear and neither like the other. Trout fishermen in gt bays got hosed yet again by the NRC, and to help muskie populations in the lower antrim chain of lakes we should close torch river to all boating traffic during the spawn. That suggestion was some funny stuff.
As for the bass fishing, which I am most involved with. The suggestion was made to delay catch and keep season by a local guide, again, till mid July to " save our trophy fisheries" As I oppose this idea without compensation to tournament bass anglers for losing a month out of our 4-5 month tournament time frame in this state.
A total of 2096 events were held last year
The Biologists said that
1: no data suggests that keeping and or catch and delayed release of bedding bass affects anything but the bed they are on , which in the grand scheme of lake Michigan is not in any way detrimental to populations on that body of water.
2: It will be at least a year before Jim Dexter, fisheries manager, will make any kind of decision on this subject after collecting and analyzing all data collected from the Michigan Tournament Information System.
3: Some type of compensation will be given to bass tournament anglers if the catch and keep season is delayed until mid summer or the end of spawning activities.
You could see the disdain for the NRC from both biologists every time they were brought up.
thanks for the report - seems like at least the DNR manager is on the right page - or at least open to fair compromise. Nice to hear to they may be displeased with the NRC also.
They are more than displeased. The male biologist was very direct when he said " we work for you, the NRC is just a group of political appointees"
Largemouth and Smallmouth fisheries in Michigan are basically unmanaged. No stocking, minimal studies and limited creel surveys. For the most part Bass populations take care of themselves, our closed season has no impact on the health of our Bass fisheries. The most effective management tools our DNR has implemented is the 14" minimum size limit and the 5 Bass daily limit. Other factors out of the DNR's control are what really contols our Bass fisheries... weather, invasives, pollution and climate. IMO we have two vastly different Bass fisheries in Michigan and they should be managed separately, Great Lakes/Connected & Inland.
I agree strongly, that Grand Traverse Bay is on the decline for big fish, but that has more to do with the declining bait populations in Lake Michigan than fishing pressure. It's too bad we don't an acoustic tracking study similar to Walleye for Grand Traverse Bay. If people understood how those bedding fish mostly live in open water chasing bait the remainder of the year, we could address the real problem... All those invasive Salmon in Lake Michigan eating whats left of the Alewives!!!
Odds are good that we'll see a world record Smallmouth out of Michigan or another Great Lakes state in the next few years.
Matt
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